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... Effective Prayer ...
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John 15:7... If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done
unto you.
Have you ever wondered why some prayers are not answered? They seem to be good prayers, and God promises to answer prayers, but these somehow bring no results. Perhaps it is because the conditions for fruitful prayer have not been met. ...Yes, there are conditions for effective prayer, and the scripture above is only one of many that presents these conditions. What does it mean to abide in Him? Consider the following scripture...
I John 3:6... ...Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.
If we have not seen or known Him, then we certainly cannot pray to Him. It is apparent, then, that in order to abide in him, we must not sin. For a prayer to be heard, the one doing the praying must be sin-free. That is a condition for effective prayer. So before we pray for the things we need, we must seek forgiveness from the Lord that we may abide in Him. Our prayers then will be answered, just as the Word of God promises.
We cannot live a life that is contrary to God's Word and expect Him to honor our prayers. We must live that life according to the teachings and conditions presented us by Jesus. You will notice that He didn't have any problem getting His prayers answered. That is because He lived a life without sin... He fulfilled all the conditions, and His prayers shook the gates of Hell.
If we would like our prayers to shake Hell's gates, then we must abide in Him. How many times have we seen professing Christians cheating their employers on the job... taking tiny items that "nobody will miss" or maybe just coming in late and leaving early? The Word of God says that whatsoever things you do, to do them as unto the Lord. Would we swipe these seemingly meaningless items if Jesus was standing right there? If we were working for Him, would we cheat Him of the time He was paying us for? I think not. Therefore, if we are guilty of such things we are not abiding in Him, and our prayers will not be effective.
Also, our dedication is not limited to what we ourselves do, but what we encourage others to do as well. If we vote for or encourage a politician who is doing contrary to God's Word, we are not abiding in Christ. Look at the following scriptures...
II John, 1:9... Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
II John, 1:10... If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
II John, 1:11... For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
I can't speak for anyone else, but there are a lot of politicians and others whose evil deeds I want no part of. Therefore, if I "bid him God speed", I am not abiding in Christ, and my prayers don't stand a very good chance of being heard. It was no accident that God preserved such a large handbook for his children to follow, and if we don't follow it in it's entirety we are not abiding in His Word. Do we want our prayers to be answered?... Then by all means let's ABIDE IN HIM!
In Jesus' Name,
AMEN
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